Obviously this gets a lot of muck off the track as evidenced by the muck on the wheels. I thought the cleaning blocks actually vibrated back and forth. A bucket of dilute hydrochloric acid and a scrubbing brush on a handle would have doe the job quicker and then the "fire crew" could have got some training by hosing the residue away...
The particular car just uses an air cylinder to push down on the blocks which then rub along the rail head. This machine isn't intended to profile grind the rail head, just to rub it smooth and clean. It can remove light corrugations and welding marks, but anything serious would need the reciprocating grinder.
Matthew Geier Thanks for that explanation Mathew. It would need a lot of passes to remove any corrugation in the rail if there is still concrete residue on the rail after a couple of passes... The trouble with concrete residue is that it would embed in the cleaning blocks presuming that are silicone carbide, Aluminium oxide etc and with all wearing parts the soft bit acts as a lap on the hard bit.... I made the assumption that the cleaning blocks actually reciprocated as per other scrubber cars I have seen.
Obviously this gets a lot of muck off the track as evidenced by the muck on the wheels. I thought the cleaning blocks actually vibrated back and forth. A bucket of dilute hydrochloric acid and a scrubbing brush on a handle would have doe the job quicker and then the "fire crew" could have got some training by hosing the residue away...
The particular car just uses an air cylinder to push down on the blocks which then rub along the rail head. This machine isn't intended to profile grind the rail head, just to rub it smooth and clean. It can remove light corrugations and welding marks, but anything serious would need the reciprocating grinder.
Matthew Geier Thanks for that explanation Mathew. It would need a lot of passes to remove any corrugation in the rail if there is still concrete residue on the rail after a couple of passes... The trouble with concrete residue is that it would embed in the cleaning blocks presuming that are silicone carbide, Aluminium oxide etc and with all wearing parts the soft bit acts as a lap on the hard bit.... I made the assumption that the cleaning blocks actually reciprocated as per other scrubber cars I have seen.